Employees commuting to work on horseback in Washington state

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. (AP)--Behind a parking lot full of Jefferson Transit buses, Missy contentedly munches on grass in her new corral among berry brambles and wild roses.

The chocolate brown Arabian mare with a long black mane became Desiree Williams' transportation to and from work at the bus company May 29.

"We used to just joke about it," Williams, a maintenance clerk, said from her desk in an office loft overlooking Jefferson Transit's bus maintenance bays at the corner of Upper Sims Way and Hancock Street.

But Williams and her transit colleague Betty Mysak got more serious about riding to work after gas prices soared well past $3 a gallon.

So why don't they ride the bus?

"They're horse aficionados," said Transit General Manager Dave Turissini.

"It gives them one more opportunity to ride."

Transit employees already use a variety of alternative forms of transportation, such as bicycles and scooters to get to work, Turissini said, so horse power was a natural.

"They put the corral up at their own expense," he added.

On May 29, Williams rose at 5:30 a.m. to saddle up her 15-year-old mare and ride to work.

It took her about an hour to travel the 4.5 miles from her home.

She said Mysak planned to ride her quarter horse, 31-year-old Cocoa, from her home in the Hastings and Howard streets area.

As Williams sees it, a bale of hay costs $13 and lasts a week.

That compares to $40 to $50 to fill up her Nissan six-cylinder pickup truck with gasoline.

Also, horse power is almost entirely free of emissions, said Williams with a smile.

"It's all biodegradable and it's all green," she said.

The makeshift corral is on an undeveloped acre of Jefferson Transit's six acres.

The only expense to transit is a little water for the animals.

The horses are well behaved, Williams said. But, as a precaution, she and Mysak will stretch an electric fence wire on the corral.

That's so the horses don't lean into the lightweight barrier and break it while stretching for a tempting bite of grass as they await the end of their riders' shifts.

Date: 6/8/07